PhD student Laura Pott received NSF DDRIG funding!

PhD student Laura Pott received grant funding from the National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement Grant (DDRIG) Reconstructing Evolutionary History in Humans.

Laura’s dissertation will focus combine ancient and modern DNA analyses. She will investigate three main topics: (1) maternal ancestry, through the study of mitochondrial DNA, in past and present-day peoples, (2) bi-parental ancestry patterns through analyses of genomic-scale data, and (3) evidence of genetic adaptation in immune-related genes in present-day individuals.

By integrating ancient and modern DNA, the project sheds light on how population movements influence patterns of genetic ancestry and signals of selection. Congratulations Laura!